


A New Beginning

by Tamahori



Series: The Legacy of Torna [1]
Category: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Beware the Quiet Ones, Grumpy Old Man Dragon, It's All Minoth's Fault
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:27:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21799855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tamahori/pseuds/Tamahori
Summary: A different person finds Jin in that alley, and that changes everything.
Series: The Legacy of Torna [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1565608
Comments: 13
Kudos: 28





	A New Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> This is the start for several stories set in this AU.

_There is a story that children tell to each other about a white ghost with a kind smile. That sometimes when a child needs help, when nothing else can save them, the ghost will appear and rescue them, destroying whatever is after them, be that monster, human, or both._

_Some children say they know rituals to summon him if needed, others say it’s just luck. They all agree though if he’s around then nothing can possibly hurt them._

_He has many names, the White Ghost, the Good Monster, the Last Knight of Torna, but if he’s ever asked what to call him he just says they should use his name._

_Jin._

#### 3565

The man passed almost unnoticed through the busy streets. His dark colours and the distinctive scar over one eye stood out but in the fallout of the Aegis war most cities had become very mixed, sometimes despite the best efforts of the leadership. His overall attitude didn’t make him look like somebody you wanted to talk to either. He had the air of a problem looking for a place to happen. 

Minoth was starting to lose hope. Rumors could only go so far and while his willingness to spend money like water helped keep the stories coming, it was getting harder to filter the truth from those just wanting a payday. 

It was ironic that when he found what he was looking for he almost walked past without seeing it. It was a slight pulse in his core, like calling to like, that alerted him. Even after that it took some looking around before he finally worked out who the figure slumped in the alley was, covered in a blanket. It took longer for him to believe what he was looking at. 

“Jin, is that you?” 

When he finally resorted to pushing the blanket out of the way, the man he revealed winced at the sudden light but didn’t make any other reaction. The glowing red of the crystal in his forehead was still a shock even with the warning pulse before. 

Minoth sighed, “Oh, Lora … “ 

That name finally got a reaction, a look of hopeless anguish. Jin finally croaking out, “She’s gone.” 

“I know.” He knew he couldn’t really understand what Jin had been though. His driver still lived, for all that he wished that wasn’t the case. Minoth understood part of it though, there was that place in his heart that his prince had filled for a while, and that painful knowledge he’d never feel that link again. 

If Jin had been hard to find, Prince Addam had apparently dug a hole and pulled it in after himself. He was the man everyone was looking for and nobody could find. Minoth had dark suspicions about how Addam had vanished but he wasn’t going to share them. 

Jin took a bit to respond, “He took her … I saw her again, and she’s his. She hated him but now he has her.” 

“But … Lora is dead.” 

A bit of life came back into the ice blade’s eyes, “Not Lora … Haze. Almalthus took Haze.” 

The sound Minoth made wasn't entirely human, “Every time I think he has plumbed the depths … “ he didn’t have time for this. If Addam had vanished off the face of Alrest there were rumours of another person who was supposed to be dead being seen, and without Addam and more importantly Addam’s _blade_ , that was not a fight he wanted to risk. 

With some effort he managed to drag Jin to his feet, it didn’t help the man was almost a head taller than him. At least he wasn't fighting back, he had no doubt how painful and short any real fight against the Paragon of Torna would go. It took a bit but he finally managed to get Jin following him, “We have a ride to catch, and he’s grumpy already.” 

This was such a mess, but somebody had to deal with it and the damn lizard was no good at operating in the middle of a town. Still, needs must, and if the rumours about captured refugees were true, he was going to need all of Jin’s power and more. 

Two men stumbling through a city was hardly what people might expect to be the start of an organization that would one day shake the world. Sometimes major moments in history can pass without notice until people can look at them from the future. 

While any of her people survived, Torna’s legacy would live on. 

#### 3566

“So we still do not know for sure that Mikhail is there.” 

Minoth looked up at the dragon, “We know they have at least some of the Tornan refugees and are doing something to them. The information broker could confirm that.” He sighed, “Every other lead has come up dry, if Mikhail isn’t there then he’s in a grave somewhere.” 

“It doesn’t matter.” Jin’s comment took Minoth took slightly by surprise. The man still had a distressing tendency to fade out and just stop paying attention to anything that wasn’t an actual fight. To be honest Minoth would almost prefer it if Jin did lose focus in fights compared to what did happen. 

Jin seemed to be with them currently though as he continued, his voice still a bit raspy from disuse, “It doesn’t matter if Mikhail is there or not. We _know_ they have prisoners, and we know they are hurting them. And they are Tornan … we’re all Torna has left.” There was a pause, then the line that had become his defining mantra, “It’s what Lora would want.” 

And that really was that. 

* * *

The boy crept down the corridor. Nobody had noticed he was gone yet but that wouldn’t last and then it would be him and his untrained abilities vs the guards. He _had_ to make it though, he was the last of them, he had to survive for the rest of them, at least one of them had to make it out. Somebody had to remember everything that had been taken from them. 

“Ah, there you are boy.” 

He slowly turned to see the captain of the guard walking towards him, looking annoyed but unworried. Good, he needed the man’s guard to be down. He hunched in a bit, doing his best to look defensive but harmless, feeling the slowly building energy in his chest. 

“You are starting to annoy me boy.” For a moment the man looked like he was going to hit the small figure but instead he grabbed the boy’s collar instead. The boy shivered and mumbled something. 

Timing would be important, the guard had brought his blade with him of course, a tall man of grey stone and blue crystal. But the blade was behind the guard, and for all the power in the sword at the guard’s hip it was wasn’t a threat while it was sheathed. It had been Jin that taught him about how to watch an enemy, how to know when their guard was down. It was Lora that had taught him how anything could be a weapon if you needed it enough. 

And it was Haze, the sweet healer, that had taught him where to hit somebody to put them down. The real Haze, not that copy that the Praetor had following him around when he came to visit and who had looked at him with no recognition in her eyes. 

The guard leaned down, “What are you saying boy? Don’t think you being a success keeps you safe if you annoy me much more.” 

He let go of his tight grab on the energy in his chest, power flowing through his body and then the young boy _moved_. The sharpened piece of metal came out of his sleeve and slammed up right under the guard’s jaw, embedding itself into the base of his brain. He was dead before he realised the boy was moving and a moment later the clunk of core crystal hitting the stone floor marked the death of his blade. 

Mikhail of Torna stepped back from the guard’s falling corpse, “I said you killed my family, so now I’m going to kill you.” 

A moment later the shakes hit. Some of it was that he’d just killed a man, the first time he’d ever taken a life, but the rest was the energy starting to surge. He closed his eyes and focused. Iit was his energy, it was his core, it was all part of him. His energy couldn’t hurt him, his energy _wouldn’t_ hurt him. He had to cling to that thought, long deep breaths as the cold energy slowly subsided. 

Mikhail knew what would happen if he ever lost control. He'd seen too many of the other refugees die that way, the ones that hadn't been killed by their operations or mutated beyond recognition. He’d seen when their cores raged out of control, people burning alive, drowning in a dry room or worse. He needed to keep control but not too much control, let it flow through him, remember that it was part of him and make sure it knew that too. 

Finally it was over and he opened his eyes again, looking dispassionately at the body in front of him. They had taken his family, they had taken everything, so he was going to destroy them in turn. Not now, but some day. For now though he needed to escape. 

The guard’s main weapon had vanished with the blade but the man had a dagger that was better than anything he’d managed to make himself. After a bit of thought he recovered the spike, cleaned it off and hid it in his sleeve again. Lora had taught him that you always wanted to have a backup. After more thought he grabbed the inert core crystal as well, he didn’t even know if he could resonate with it but if nothing else it was valuable to other people. 

The real prize though was a set of keys. Sure, that wouldn't be enough, this place had ether locks as well that needed more than just a physical key, but he’d been studying them for over a year, he knew their weaknesses. It was simple really, he would escape or he would die. 

He was the last of them, maybe even the last bit of Torna left. He wouldn’t die. He wouldn’t let himself die, there was too much on his shoulders. 

He was Mikhail of Torna, and Indol would know to fear his name. 

But first he needed to leave. That direction looked good. 

* * *

And this was exactly what Minoth had been worried about. 

They had gotten pretty far into the layers under the Sanctum before the alert went up. Minoth wasn’t even sure what caused it, there was nobody near them and he was pretty sure they hadn’t set off a trap. Thankfully the very secrecy of this project meant it was lightly guarded. If they had wanted to get into the parts of the Sanctum where _he_ was it would have been much harder. Too hard. 

But now they had an alert going off and they had guards showing up. That wasn't the bit Minoth was worried about. 

For all he considered himself a fairly dangerous Blade, and he was, he’d yet to use his weapons. Yet to draw them even. Drawing them would imply that any guards survived long enough for Minoth to have time to get his weapons ready. 

And that was what had him concerned. 

A pacifist Blade was honestly unusual. That same pacifist being without doubt the most dangerous blade in existence that wasn't an Aegis made it even stranger. But that had been Jin. 

_Had_ was the active word. 

Jin wasn't suffering from problems tracking things anymore. He was totally _here_ , and very focused. Too focused. Any guard that made the mistake of coming into sight was being not so much killed as just _removed_. Sometimes it was those bursts of impossible movement, sometimes it was just Jin’s normal insane speed, but there was never any pause, any hesitation. Just ‘see enemy, destroy enemy’. 

To be fair, that was how Minoth tended to react in combat, but that was just who he was. Jin being like that was frightening. Almost as frightening as those tremors that Jin was trying to disguise when he brought out his new superspeed trick. Minoth was going to have words with him about that, once they were away from here. 

* * *

At least Jin wasn’t totally out of control, and Minoth finally got a chance to use his weapons. 

The guard’s eyes were crossed as he tried to watch the muzzle of Minoth’s pistol resting on the bridge of his nose. Minoth didn’t so much grin as show teeth, “I will keep this simple. There are refugees from Torna here. They are being experimented on. You will tell me where they are. You wouldn’t be down this deep without knowing at least where it’s happening. You tell me, you get to live.” 

It was a little annoying on a professional level that he was pretty sure Jin’s implacable masked presence behind him was being even more intimidating, but you worked with what you had. 

“But … you’re the Praetor’s Blade!” 

Minoth leaned closer, “My last Driver was Prince Addam Origo, and as far as I’m concerned that makes me one of the last surviving members of the Torna military. You are holding Tornan civilians. Tell me where they are or we find out how much of your body you can survive without.” 

Thankfully he didn’t have to carry out his threats, and it didn’t take long before the guard gave them enough information to make him the only guard to encounter them on this mission and live. 

“One last thing. I have a message for Amalthus, my Driver as you put it. Tell him that the next time we meet will be the last.” 

* * *

Mikhail wasn’t sure _what_ was going on. 

He really would have expected to run into more guards by now, something must be drawing them off but he had no idea what. 

At least he’d been right about getting through the doors. High tech didn’t seem to make them that much more secure if you knew how to disrupt the ether flow in the right place. 

“Halt!” 

And finally a guard. On the upside no blade, on the downside they were not going to drop their defences. They had to have found the body of the man he killed already. 

There was the sound of an ether weapon going off and a pair of purple bolts took the guard in the back, dropping him instantly. Wait, he knew that sound, he knew those bolts. 

“Mikhail, is that you?” 

It _was_ Minoth, guns up and ready as he jogged over. It took a bit before Mikhail could reply, “Yeah … what are you doing here?” 

“Rescuing you, and any other survivors … wait, do … do you have a core?” 

Mikhail looked down at the glowing crystal in his chest, “Yeah … they put it in me. I … I’m pretty sure I’m the only one still alive.” 

“Shit. Then we need to leave, there is a limit to how many guards Jin can go through at once.” 

“Jin’s here? But I thought Lora … I _saw_ Haze vanish. She was protecting me.” He looked at Minoth, then down at Minoth’s core, “Oh.” 

“Quite. It’s something we need to repay some people for. Can you run?” 

“I can run.” 

Jin was alive, and still Jin. He still had some family. As they ran he clung to that, he hadn’t lost all of them, and damn if he was going to lose any more. 

* * *

The fire raged through the house, a thick pillar of smoke reaching up to the sky. 

Mikhail watched the fire and the pale figure standing in front of it, “So why is he doing this?” 

“Heck if I know, he’s picked up a real tendency towards the dramatic since … “ Minoth shrugged a little, “If I ever get a chance to put on one of my plays I am going to have to cast him as the lead. He’s got the presence for it. And it’s not like there is anything left in it.” 

Mikhail looked down at the stack of books he was holding and the all important picture, the one picture ever taken of the entire group that had been fighting against Malos right up to the end, on top. There had been quite the argument over that, about the books at least. Jin had wanted to symbolically burn his past, Mikhail had been of the opinion that the past was the entire reason they were doing this. 

There had been much less of an argument over the photo. The entire rest of the group had made it clear that if he wanted to destroy that it was after defeating all of them in a fight, and Jin was unwilling to raise his sword against them. 

From behind and above them a voice rumbled, “It was going to be destroyed regardless. I doubt it will be much longer before the final bits of Torna sink beneath the sea.” Azurda considered for a moment, “Unless it acts like Morytha did.” Apparently being a Titan didn’t gift one with automatic understanding of all their quirks. 

Minoth nodded, “I will miss this place.” 

“As long as we still live, so does Torna.” Jin had seen enough of the house burning and come walking back. He looked focused again, not quite the Jin that Mikhail remembered, but not that lost expression he’d had after they had fought their way off Indol. He hoped it was an improvement. 

Mikhail had to ask it, “So what happens now?” 

Azurda commented, “You seem to have acquired yourself a new vehicle, because I’m not good enough for you or something.” His tone came across much more as amused then hurt. 

Mikhail really liked Azurda, even if he did grumble a lot, but he had to admit the cabins in _Monoceros_ were a lot more comfortable. 

Minoth wasn’t having any of it, “Don’t you go complaining just because you get to rest more you lazy lizard. Besides, you’re still going to be better for sneaking in and out of places, and I think we’re going to be doing a lot of that in the future. And at least _Monoceros_ works.” 

The rush to try and salvage what they could from Torna had dragged even Mikhail into it, they needed every set of hands even if one of them was a child. Thankfully he’d learned enough breaking out of Indol to be more than just somebody to help carry stuff. _Marsanes_ was amazing even in her crippled state. Some day he hoped to see her fly again. 

Mikhail shook his head and focused on what was happening now, ‘So. Do we have a name? The group? Are we Prince Addam’s Irregulars or something?” 

The group considered that before Jin spoke up, “No. He was a good man but we’re not fighting for him. We’re not even fighting for Lora … “ he waved a hand out at the rock around them, “We’re the last legacy of Torna, that’s why we're doing this.” 

Minoth nodded, “The Legacy of Torna … that’s a name I can fight under.” He walked over to the pale figure, “But we’re not just fighting for that, we’re also fighting for Addam’s memory, and Lora’s, and Haze’s and everyone else’s. Don’t lose sight of who you were, Lora … “ he looked down at his own core for a moment then back up, “Lora did what she did so you could continue to be the person she loved. Don’t lose that person.” 

From above Azurda quietly said, “I never got much of a chance to know her, not nearly as much as I would have liked. She was a good person.” 

Mikhail nodded firmly, “We’re still family. So if we don’t know what to do, we just need to think, what would Lora do?” 

Jin looked thoughtful, then slowly nodded. 

Minoth put an arm around Jin’s shoulders, “For a start she wouldn’t stand around outside at night when we could be inside and warm. Come on … we don’t need to save the world _right now_. We all need time to think, time to recover, and remember who we are.” He gave Jin and Mikhail a serious look, “It took me a long time to get used to my new state, so let's not rush into anything until you two know who you are again. Right now you need to focus on that, work out who you want to be and _be that person_.” 

As they walked towards the floating shape of _Monoceros_ Mikhail had a lot of thinking to do. A glance at Jin’s uncovered face showed the man was also thinking hard. 

Just who would Jin want to be? 

#### 3583

The boy ran through the forest trying to stay ahead of the monsters but he could hear them getting closer. He never should have gone out into the woods like he did but it was too late now, they had his scent. 

A moment later he almost smashed into somebody, would have if the man hadn’t caught him. “Hey, calm down.” 

He looked up at the man in white, who somehow looked friendly despite the scary mask, “The monsters are coming! We need to run.” 

The man just smiled, “Stand behind me, I’m good with monsters.” 

“But there are a whole bunch of them?” This didn’t stop the boy standing behind him though, peeking around his side as the first of the creatures came into the clearing, slowing as it saw the man instead of the boy it had been chasing. 

As Jin looked up at the bulk of a Buloofo and several Ferris his smile turned wry with a touch of sadness, “Well this brings back memories.” 

“Mr, there are a lot of” and then the man in front of the boy vanished and there was a blur of movement and and almost indescribable sound before the man appeared again, facing him this time, “them … huh?” 

“Come on, let's get you back home again. Your parents are worried about you.” 

The boy peeked around the man again … the monsters were all dead, lying in a pile with cuts all over them. He looked at them, then at the big sword on the man’s back, then at the dead monsters again. “Um … yeah.” 

As they walked off he couldn’t help but ask, “Why does it bring back memories?” 

“Ah. I used to have this very good friend, her name was Lora … “ 

**Author's Note:**

> As always thanks to my betas pheonix89 and Grundpfeiler who helped so much with this.


End file.
